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Tour Stops for August 6, 2011

A Cottage Small

Owners: Nick and Deidre Sweet

What could be better than sitting on one of your two front porches to catch the sounds of world-class musicians performing in an open-air Playhouse below? That's just one of many unexpected benefits that come with this hillside cottage. Others include raindrops on a tin roof over your bedroom, a cozy kitchen where nature cascades down the hill to fill a sunny window alongside your breakfast table, and an elevated second-story porch that the owners liken to a bird’s nest.
 
For Nick and Deidre Sweet, Mt. Gretna is the most special of settings: It is where they came on their second date, where he later knelt on one knee to offer a diamond, and where a year later she rode in a horse-drawn carriage to be married in the historic Hall of Philosophy only a few hundred yards away.
 
It is also a place where, both admit, they feel more at home than in their primary residence in Downingtown, where he is a software development executive and she is an accountant. And it is where they hope to retire someday.
 
Meanwhile, they delight in the joys of cottage living. “True,” says Deidre, “the kitchen is small. I tell friends it’s one step up from an RV kitchen. And there’s no dishwasher. But I love it.”
 
They have a TV, but they’ve refused to add cable and instead watch only movies. “When we come here, we like to disconnect,” says Nick.
 
The name they chose for this cottage? It was a 78 rpm record Nick found for his antique Victrola. Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians recorded Just A Cottage Small in 1926. Even though both the melody and Waring’s popular band and chorus were faded memories long before Nick and Deidre were born, it nevertheless fits perfectly into their lives today.

The Lenington Cottage

Owners: Earl and Becky Lenington

Over the past 100 years or so, most of the cottages in this traditional summer community have changed hands many times.  Yet in the more than 60 years since this one was built, it has seen only two owners.  Although neither ever met the other, the first occupant still casts a long shadow, subtly influencing decisions for the couple who, for the past decade, have called this hillside cottage home.
 
Bill Wilkinson, the original owner, was a professor of industrial arts at a local college. He was also a noted craftsman who volunteered his services to area churches. His reputation for quality workmanship and high standards was legendary.
 
Today’s owners, Becky and Earl Lenington, bought the home in 2001 and immediately began undertaking renovation projects made necessary by the 15 years that the home sat empty after Wilkinson’s death. Yet  they still find themselves occasionally asking, “Would Bill have approved of this change we’re about to make?”  It is a dilemma that Becky, who for the past 30 years has directed one of the nation’s largest recreational vehicle shows, leaves to her husband.
 
Earl, who recently retired after a 40-year career in the restaurant business, had never before tried his hand at woodworking. Yet he has since learned carpentry and other construction skills as he completely gutted the kitchen down to its floor joists, added custom cabinetry and undertook other major renovations.
 
A horseshoe bearing Wilkinson’s initials and the date 1985 remains fixed above one hallway. It’s a reminder of the original owner’s standards. So is a Wilkinson canoe, which Earl refinished and made a ceiling centerpiece in the new sunroom that he added last fall.
 
Earl continues to appreciate lessons bequeathed by his predecessor. Along the way, he has learned to curb some of his own perfectionist tendencies. “When I was doing the work, I noticed that some of the walls were not completely plumb,” he says, “but when I pointed that out to a friend who was painting the  interior, she said, ‘What are you worried about? It’s Mt. Gretna. Even Bill Wilkinson realized that.” For Earl, the sudden revelation landed with stunning impact, proving once again that “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” even if the two never really meet.

Kirkwood

Owners: Nelson and Ellen Lawrence

Sometimes, people seem destined to live in a Mt. Gretna cottage. Nelson Lawrence, for example, studied composition at Boston’s Berklee College of Music but then he became a watchmaker and later a machinist. Yet, with the heart and soul of a musician, he finally got his chance to perform in a musical at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse several years ago. And when Nelson's wife Ellen was a teenager, her father taught her how to do such things as patch a roof. Such were the skills, aptitudes and training that pointed the Lawrences in the direction of Mt. Gretna and to a dream they cherished for at least seven years. It was one they finally realized in 2010, when they purchased this cottage.
 
“I was so excited I couldn’t sleep for three nights,” she says.
 
That excitement may help to explain the “Dreams Come True” sign on their porch. Just 20 minutes away from their year-round home in Lancaster County, it is a haven to which they escape with their 14-year-old son Andrew every chance they get.
 
Built in the mid-1890s for two sisters who wanted separate living quarters in the same cottage, it was one of the Campmeeting's rare “duplexes,” and it remained in the same family until 1987. “It’s become for us a cocoon,” says Ellen, "a place where we can just go, relax and enjoy." The Lawrences have made only modest changes, preferring to keep their cottage as close to original as possible. They’ve added a few new appliances, a few coats of paint, including red floors and tea green accents to a cupboard. But mostly it remains as they found it, including the upstairs walls without ceilings. No ceilings? It’s an 1890s design concept that promotes air circulation to keep bedrooms cool on hot summer nights. "We just love that," she says.

Bellisimo

Owner: Geri Benseman

Names that Mt. Gretna owners give to their cottages often reveal more about the people who live there than about the cottages themselves. For Geri Benseman, a woman devoted to her art, friends and memories, “Bellisimo” describes a life.
 
“I’m a great lover of nearly everything Italian,” she says, “and bellisimo means ‘wonderful.’” It is the prism through which she views memories of life with her late husband, an airline pilot for four decades who flew “over the hump” in World War II. It is also the way she now views life as a year-round resident of Mt. Gretna in this cottage that she clearly loves.
 
A faux artist who once studied at the Isabel O’Neal Studio in New York City, Geri has made this early Mt. Gretna cottage the center of her busy life with friends, family and private pursuits that now include the art of rug hooking.
 
She’s also been fully engaged in transforming nearly every aspect of this three-bedroom cottage. In addition to a makeover of the kitchen floors and walls, and adding new countertops and cabinetry, she’s overseen changes to the dining and living rooms, refurbishment of a staircase and railings, re-insulation of the cottage, and the addition of central air conditioning and an emergency generator. She has also specified new carpeting for much of the home, ordered roof repairs and supervised the replacement of a few walls. Among the features she insisted on retaining, however, was her favorite: a claw foot bathtub that she simply adores.
 
Bellisimo also connotes her deeply felt appreciation of life in Mt. Gretna. “Coming here is like coming into a place that welcomes you with a big hug,” she says. “This is a five-star community. The people are open, friendly, and welcoming. They’re real here.”
Sitting on her L-shaped porch, she pauses for a moment. It is a brief interlude, one that permits time to reflect on her life, as it was… and as it is now. “I’m so blessed,” she says.

Mimi's Maison

Owner: Jodi Swisher Dohl

When they agreed to help her carry out a renovation of this cottage, Jodi Dohl’s son and brother thought they might complete the job in about two months. That was before they discovered what she had in mind. “It wasn’t going to be a typical cookie-cutter kind of house you could have anywhere,” says Jodi. After giving up her Pequea farm and moving to Mt. Gretna, she was after a “cottagy, shabby chic” feel, one devoid of drywall or other ordinary suburban touches. It would be accented by a hand-cut galvanized ceiling. And it turned out to be a look that would take them nearly two years to achieve.
 
The project expanded this original 800 sq. ft. cottage to some 1,300 square feet. It transformed several downstairs rooms into a large combination living room and kitchen. Then came new appliances, a fresh coat of light green paint on the floors and antique white for the walls.
 
Jodi now loves the brighter, more spacious result. “It’s perfect for entertaining,” says the former librarian for a Lancaster law office, where she worked for over 20 years.
She believes the cottage was built sometime in the late 1890s. A 1905 Philadelphia newspaper, stuffed between the walls and used for insulation, was discovered during the remodeling project.
 
To restore its original look, Jodi sought out antique shops and nearby farms for authentic furnishings, including the porcelain sink and cabinetry in her kitchen. The gliders, a recent addition to her newly added patio, came from neighbors' discards during Mt. Gretna's annual "Big Junk (haul-away-and-its-yours) Day.”
 
 And the name, Mimi’s Maison? It is the one given by her grandchildren. A fitting complement to the community she loves, neighbors she adores, and a lifestyle that seems ideal. Says proud grandmother Mimi,“I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”

The Mt. Gretna Inn

Owners: Harry S. Short, Jr. and Frank Romonoski III.

One Friday afternoon, having read about the Mt. Gretna Inn in Baltimore Style magazine, a couple drove up to spend the night. They instantly fell in love with Mt. Gretna and the next day, bought a cottage here. 

It’s a story Frank Romonoski loves telling—one of the many delights that he and partner Harry Short have discovered since buying the Inn a few years ago. Frank, a food service company executive, and Harry, a certified chef and graduate of Johnson & Wales culinary institute, love catering to guests. Several have left notes saying, “You made us feel like kings and queens”—a signal that “we’re hitting the mark,” he says.    

Their three-story inn, open year-round, was once the private home of Mt. Gretna Heights entrepreneur Abraham Kauffman, who drew design inspirations from the Arts and Crafts movement that prevailed during the period 1910 to 1925. It has also been a church camp, and a restaurant, and is now a bed and breakfast—where the owners strive for a “comfortable and casual” atmosphere reminiscent of an Adirondacks lodge.
 
“We’ve had guests from Alaska, California and Arizona,” says Frank. “But what’s surprised us is that the majority of our guests are local, coming from places like Lancaster and Harrisburg.”

Also surprising has been the delightful nurturing that goes with owning an inn. “It’s like running a cruise ship,” says Frank. “All the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready to make guests comfortable—flower arrangements, sweeping, laundering, preparing hors d'oeuvres. We sometimes call this our ‘land yacht.’”
Guests enjoy an eclectic mix of furnishings in this elegantly refurbished inn the owners strive to make “comfortable and casual rather than ‘fussy’.” Each of the seven rooms is unique, with private baths. Some have private porches, gas fireplaces or whirlpool tubs. All rooms have access to a butler’s pantry, microwave ovens and other modern amenities.  What’s the favorite spot of both owners and guests? Unquestionably, it’s the porch, says Frank, “a place you can escape to with a glass of wine at night, listening to crickets, or with coffee in the morning, listening to the birds—it’s a little bit of heaven.”

Maple Lodge

Owners: George and Sandy Leyh

For George Leyh, a retired history teacher who immersed himself in doctoral studies of one of America’s largest Campmeeting associations, nothing quite compares to actually living in this original Campmeeting cottage which the historian Jack Bitner once described as “a 1900 time capsule. . . perhaps the least-changed cottage in all of Mt. Gretna.”
 
It is also a perfect getaway for Sandy, who operates a travel agency from their permanent home in nearby Mt. Joy. Both appreciate the cottage’s history—linked to the famous Mt. Gretna “Bather” whose turn-of-the century postcard photographs, revealing bare forearms, shocked her parents and set off a frenzied attempt to collect every postcard they could get their hands on.
 
Originally, this cottage was joined to its neighbor ("As You Like It,” next door) to accommodate members of the same family. The second-story link has since been severed, but historical ties remain. There are, for example, the furnishings, chosen by the first owners of this cottage more than a hundred years ago.
 
"This cottage comes with a responsibility," says Sandy. She and her husband intend to keep it true to its heritage, with no plans for remodeling or changes that would mar its historical authenticity.
 
What they also especially like about living here? It's a convenient spot for entertaining friends or spur-of-the-moment getaways, she says.
 
For George, in addition to its history is the appeal of Mt. Gretna's culture. "People sit on the porch and talk to neighbors walking down the street. It’s a peaceful place where everything slows down, with never the ‘zip-zip-zip’ that you find elsewhere," he says. Adds Sandy, "We considered a second home at the beach, or a condo in Ocean City. But this just seemed right. Once we settled on Mt. Gretna, there was no more discussion."

The Snavely-Ellenberger Home

Owners: Emi Snavely and Carl Ellenberger

When Emi and Carl, both on the board of Music at Gretna, married 14 years ago, they owned separate Mt. Gretna homes (each with grand pianos).  A realtor, Emi sold Carl’s house with its large music room and endless bookshelves, and they undertook a huge addition to her home here.
 
Architect Roland Nissley came up with the design, and builders John Balmer and Ron Hawthorne created the addition, enlarging the original 1972 home to twice its former size. 
That expansion included a library and music room which now separates a new bedroom from the original second-floor living room. Their master bath was modeled after those the couple discovered in St. Bart’s, where they honeymooned. A 1996 cover of Architectural Digest served as the inspiration for their porch.
 
The garden is a cooperative effort: Emi brings home trees and plants. Don Snively, a retired horticulturist, then plants, rearranges and prunes them, and, with the aid of a deer fence, keeps them alive. Carl’s only contribution is a tree, now about three feet tall, grown from chestnuts he collected during daily walks to the post office. (A century ago, Mt. Gretna’s forests were mostly chestnut trees.)
 
“I didn’t know what to do with the bog” (behind the garage) says Emi. But her years of real estate experience have honed an instinct for seeing possibilities. That’s also true for Carl, a physician who turned small gatherings of fellow musicians 36 years ago into what became Music at Gretna.
 
Among the plants Emi has chosen are colorful outsized astilbes, that now dominate, and hostas, a “butterfly bush,” a curly willow tree and an ornamental pine. Also abounding are rhododendrons and azaleas, which turned up on their own. “Whatever comes in from the forest that’s natural, I leave alone,” she says.

 

A cottage to Build a Dream On

Owners: John and Maggie Gross

When John and Maggie Gross suddenly came into a cottage they themselves couldn’t occupy,  they nevertheless set out to make this home, with its inspirations from the Arts and Crafts era, “almost perfect.” But their emphasis was squarely upon almost, because some things were purposely left undone. . . to await the tastes, preferences and lifestyles of its next owners.
 
So while John and Maggie reconditioned the hardwood floors and woodwork, finished off pocket doors on the second floor, installed a complete new kitchen with cupboards that stirred echoes from Maggie’s childhood summers in Mt. Gretna, they also left certain items unfinished so new owners could add their imaginative personal touches. And that’s what they invite visitors on the house tour to do today. 
 
What would you do with this cottage? Divide the spacious upstairs bedroom into two? Create a pond to complement the adjoining stream? Add a play area in the back yard for children? Convert the small first-floor room into an office, a sewing room or perhaps a baby’s bedroom?
 
What about the L-shaped porch and the home’s  two distinctive decks? Should one deck be set aside for grilling, another for entertaining?  Such choices, says John, are part of the fun that awaits every Mt. Gretna cottage-buyer.
 

“A Garden That Recreates a Sense of Place – and Helps Preserve Wildlife”

Owners: Evelyn Koppel and Sid Hostetter

It’s one thing to create a beautiful backyard garden, quite another to create one that is also a serene natural habitat for native plants, insects and wildlife. In this suburban setting, a Mt. Gretna couple has managed to do both.
 
In the process, they've reawakened delicate sensibilities. "There's something healing about a place that's familiar," says Evelyn, a retired clinical social worker. "The things we have in this landscape give you a sense of place. They’re a reminder of things you saw as a child, and something about that is comforting."
 
To be sure, she adds, "roses are showier and peonies are spectacular," but what she and her husband Sid, a retired middle school science teacher, set out to achieve was altogether different.
 
Guided by talks with knowledgeable friends and readings of such books as Doug Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home, they settled on a plan to provide food for native insects, which in turn becomes part of the food web for birds and other wildlife.
"What many people don't realize is that our birds feed on bugs and that  bugs in our environment either don't recognize the leaves as a food source or can't  digest the leaves of non-native plants " says Evelyn.
 
Although they chose to eliminate all alien plants from their backyard, it’s “not necessary to totally get rid of all your European or Asian plants," says Sid, “especially if they’re ones that you really like. Small changes year by year can still have a positive impact on the environment.”
 
Their back yard project entered the planning stages with Hershey Nursery last fall and actual work began in April. Because of wet weather delays it took four weeks rather than the two they had planned, but the wait was worth it. "Whether we're looking down on it from our deck, listening to the water when we wake up in the morning or watching the birds bathe, we get pleasure from this every day," says Evelyn. "It is a place of sanctuary," adds Sid, "for us as well as the animals."      

The Honeychurch Residence

Owners: Joanne and Tom Honeychurch

Grandchildren call it their tree house. Township officials call it a natural habitat. And neighbors call it a place where an interesting, involved and friendly couple live — with “Bo,” the Springer Spaniel that never goes for a walk without a glove in his mouth.  
 
Their elevated home occupies a picturesque circle of attractive residences set into the hillside. Village Cove, the name given to this section of Mt. Gretna’s Timber Hills community, traces its history to the days of army encampments a century ago. Many homes overlook the former race track, a one-third-mile oval where sprinters performed their workouts during time off from military duties.
 
Contrasting with the era when 10,000 soldiers and armored equipment roared through the camp, Village Cove is now a quiet place.  And that suits Joanne and Tom Honeychurch just fine. They moved here in 2006 soon after Joanne,  a software designer like her husband, retired. Today, although their talents range far and wide, neither remains tied to computers. When they encounter a technical glitch, they know they can call on a tech-savvy grandchild for the answer.
 
Their three-bedroom home, set amid a stand of trees -- oaks, tulip poplars, pines, blue spruces, maples and sasafrass trees—is a veritable nature preserve. Native plants here cover more than 70% of their land.
 
Inside, they’ve made their home more suitable for year-round living by converting their deck into a sun room. They’ve also created a media room, now also a center for hobbies that include sewing, knitting, growing flowers, reading and getting together with friends.
 
“You can get as involved here as you want,” says Joanne, “and getting involved keeps you young. There are so many opportunities, I’d have to live to 200 to do them all.”  
 
“When we walk in to the church and just start helping, everybody says, ‘We’re so glad you’re here,’” says Tom, who adds, modestly: “It kinda makes me feel good deep down inside, but I try not to let on.”
 
Could there be a better prescription for the perfect retirement?

The Mt. Gretna Historical Society

Seven years ago, members of the Mt. Gretna Area Historical Society began laying their plans for a museum. Soon afterward, workers lifted this cottage 12 feet into the air and carved out space for a basement archive and fireproof cement vault.

Yet if it now looks like simply another Mt. Gretna cottage, those who restored it will consider their labors a success. Fitted with new plumbing, wiring and special provisions for the handicapped, the cottage has environmental controls that regulate humidity in the basement and on the first floor. An upper floor remains unheated, preserving the cottage’s turn-of-the-century lineage.

Among its most important roles today is helping modern-day owners who plan to restore their cottages. The museum is also a repository for audio and video histories – memories recorded in the voices of current and former Mt. Gretna residents who helped shape the town's history.

Amplifying that heritage are furnishings from the former Conewago Hotel and Mt. Gretna Inn, Playhouse playbills carrying such names as Charlton Heston, Bernadette Peters and Sally Struthers (who was featured in a return engagement this spring).

Visitors will also find a handmade Campmeeting cottage dollhouse, decorated in the Mt. Gretna style with working electric lights. The building also houses military memorabilia, drawn from the area’s more than 50 years as the summer headquarters of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

For other details, contact the Mt. Gretna Area Historical Society, P.O. Box 362, Mt, Gretna, PA 17604.

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